PFG Advisors Takes $220,000 Position in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW)

PFG Advisors purchased a new position in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 230.1% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 23,383 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Charles Schwab by 2,840.7% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 5,937 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Charles Schwab by 46.0% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 67,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 21,377 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Pacific Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Charles Schwab in the fourth quarter worth about $688,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 293.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $903,000 after purchasing an additional 9,108 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Charles Schwab

In related news, Chairman Walter W. Bettinger sold 464,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.91, for a total transaction of $38,057,761.39. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 827,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,770,450.07. The trade was a 35.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul V. Woolway sold 3,380 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.32, for a total value of $268,101.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,586,123.76. The trade was a 5.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 501,087 shares of company stock worth $40,952,233 over the last ninety days. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Redburn Partners dropped their price objective on Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Charles Schwab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $87.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Charles Schwab from $81.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Charles Schwab from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Charles Schwab Stock Up 5.1 %

SCHW stock opened at $77.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.32. The stock has a market cap of $140.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98. The Charles Schwab Co. has a fifty-two week low of $61.01 and a fifty-two week high of $84.50.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.11. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $5.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from Charles Schwab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Charles Schwab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.12%.

Charles Schwab Company Profile

The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services.